The Kai Gracen Series: Book One Ever since being part of the pot in a high-stakes poker game, elfin outcast Kai Gracen figures he used up his good karma when Dempsey, a human Stalker, won the hand and took him in. Following the violent merge of Earth and Underhill, the human and elfin races are left with a messy, monster-ridden world, and Stalkers are the only cavalry willing to ride to someone’s … willing to ride to someone’s rescue when something shadowy appears.
It’s a hard life but one Kai likes–filled with bounty, a few friends, and most importantly, no other elfin around to remind him of his past. And killing monsters is easy. Especially since he’s one himself.
But when a sidhe lord named Ryder arrives in San Diego, Kai is conscripted to do a job for Ryder’s fledgling Dawn Court. It’s supposed to be a simple run up the coast during dragon-mating season to retrieve a pregnant human woman seeking sanctuary. Easy, quick, and best of all, profitable. But Kai ends up in the middle of a deadly bloodline feud he has no hope of escaping.
No one ever got rich being a Stalker. But then few of them got old either and it doesn’t look like Kai will be the exception.
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If you like Black Dog Blues, it’s because you like the main character, Kai. Me, I love Kai. Kai is my favorite type of character – the tough, scrappy, outcast, snark-monger extraordinaire. He is swimming in snark, splashing about happily and not caring if he drowns everyone else with his vicious wit.
What do you give a man like that for love, balance, and story conflict? What could match all that snark? Aristocratic arrogance, of course. Which is why I also love Ryder. Oh he’s a prat, but an adorably clueless one. And he really likes Kai. Which, let’s be clear, I sympathize with. So I can’t really get too mad at him. Although Kai sure does, pretty much right off the bat.
“I wanted to crawl into his mouth, down his body, and possibly under his skin. If I hadn’t already decided I hated him on sight, it would have made me start.”
Black Dog Blues is much more fighting and more violent than I usually read. But I kind of guessed that going in, from the cover and blurb, so I was too perturbed. It has other elements that I enjoy. For example I like it when immortals act like immortals, which is to say slightly confused by and utterly un-connected to the pettiness and emotional resonance of mortality. I appreciate a Pinocchio character.
“My reflection in the bathroom mirror surprised me, as it always did. I forgot I wasn’t human.”
I loved the world building of this series. It’s based on a clear and simple concept, as much of the best world building is. That the fae realm and ours collided, destroying much of each and leaving behind the weird-post apocalyptic California with vast empty areas filled with vicious wild dragons, and lost cities, and new elf ones merged on top of or inside our own. This leaves behind humans who are only just surviving, and elves who are slowly fading away. Of course, this world is a metaphor for Kai himself ~ a merged creation, annihilated and mutilated in the act of birth, but possibly greater than the sum of his parts.
So with a warning only on the violence and physical (not sexual) abuse, this books certainly gets a big fat recommendation from me all round, great world-building, fun characters, snappy dialog, and good pacing
One of my favorite series by a great writer. Loved this from the very beginning.
This book was fabulous. So well written. Great descriptions and compelling. I couldn’t get enough of Kai. I love paranormal stories and stories about the fair-folk. Rhys really brought them out in the open with this tale. It doesn’t have the normal hot and steamy sex-scene I like in a romance, but there are some great romantic elements and enough to let your mind wander. Even without that, the story is so damn good… you want to read this one! I’m starting book 2 NOW!
Just reading the title to this book made me want to read it. Ms Ford’s writing style is one of my favorites. The way she weaves the suspense and sexual tension together is at times unbelievably vivid. The images of ravaged territories and all the wild beasts that inhabit them explode in vibrant kaleidoscope of colors that make the story even more thrilling. I love it! Magic and practicality go hand in hand in the world where its population is constantly at war be it covert between the elfin courts or out in the open between the elfin and the humans.
Kai Gracen is the kind of man who you want at your side – resilient, scrappy and wicked smart. The life hasn’t dealt him an easy hand, but he is a survivor, and all that he has is his own. He is his own man, and he will never be under the rule of another. His work as a Stalker brings him no joy, but that’s all he knows and he is good at it. His past still has a hold on him in his nightmares and even walking hours, but he is strong enough to push back. When a job appears that he has no choice but to accept, he comes in contact with all that he loathes – elfin court and a sidhe lord that burrows deep under his skin. The run turns deadly and dangerous, the secrets buried deep resurface to haunt Kai and hurt him anew. Will he run from his past and hide or will he come out and fight to have something more in his life? I liked Kai’s sarcastic attitude, his willingness to help even to the detriment of himself. The courage he possesses is born from the pits of hell he has been through, but it carries him through the darkest times when nothing stands between him and danger but his weapon and will to live.
Ryder, the sidhe lord of the Dawn Court, appears to be entitled and a bit arrogant at first glance. But as the journey continues, Ryder sheds the mantle of authority to show the man underneath – compassionate, thoughtful, steadfast and a bit playful. He never waivers when Kai tells him that which should horrify him, he is there for him when death seems imminent and he sees beneath the surface to the loyal man that Kai is. I loved their word play, their bickering and teasing. By the end of the book I really wanted there to be something between them – it would be glorious.
The whole book is one unending roller coaster. It’s angry, gory, fast-paced adventure mixed with Court intrigues, schemes and bids for rule. Cruelty and pain go hand in hand with power play, family and blood mean nothing to those who are willing to kill. But in all that chaos stand those who never surrender, who do what is right even if it means their demise, who choose to be brave in the face of evil. Kai and Ryder’s story has only just begun. I expect it will get even better. I loved it so much! Superb story that I highly recommend!
This book was wonderful! Rhys Ford is an automatic buy for me, and this book proves why. Ford is amazing at creating visuals with words! I can’t do justice to describing the poetic fashion in which Kai’s world came to life.
This dark fantasy story was beautifully written and narrated with equal excellence.
It’s all I read until I finished it — safe to call it compelling. Ford is accomplished at folding in the elements of a fantasy world as part of her character’s experiences. Frankly, I wish more fantasy writers would learn how to do this, but maybe that’s just me outgrowing “epic” fantasy. This is a unique take on elves vs. humans. A unique cast of characters, with Kai in the lead as the oddest.